Technical Field
Embodiments disclosed herein are related to systems and methods for determining a strength of a created credential. In particular, systems and methods disclosed herein may provide a local initial strength determination and a remote secondary strength determination wherein both the initial and secondary strength determination analyze components of the created credential.
Related Art
Credentials such as passwords are used to provide security to a user's sensitive information and to grant a user access to content. For example, a user may be required to enter a correct credential to access certain information, such as financial information, and perform certain transactions, such as making a payment. Thus, secure and strong credentials are important to prevent unauthorized use or access to a user's account or information. Typically, the more obscure the credential or password or unrelated it is to the user, the harder it is for someone to correctly guess or determine the actual user credential. In addition, systems or sites may require the user to periodically change the credential for additional security. Thus, it is important for the user to select or change to a credential that is strong, as opposed to weak, and not easily determined by others even with knowledge of the previous credential.
However, users typically select or change credentials that are easy to remember. For the former, users may select a word, a phrase, a number, or a combination thereof that makes sense for the user, such as a name, a birthday, an address, or the like. For the latter, the user may slightly modify the previous credential by adding a number or replacing a number with the next number. These credentials may be easy for attackers to obtain, such as by guessing or other more analytical methods. This may then allow an attacker to access a user account, including make unauthorized payments or withdrawals, engage in identity theft, etc.
Thus, there is a need for systems and methods that determine a strength of a created credential, only allowing the credential to be created if it is determined to be sufficiently strong.
In the drawings, elements having the same designation have the same or similar functions.